"Voila!" Casper whispered, looking over Logan's shoulder at the journal. This was just what they had been searching for.

Logan almost cried out in joy at the revelation. The entry in this journal had finally confirmed the fact that there was truly a rogue tribe, whose markings was a crescent shaped tattoo. And in the history book that Logan had read, he had found out that the leader of the tribes usually arrived to claim other territories as their own. to "expand their followership" as the history book had put it. This would explain why they had been catching spies all over their borders, and the issue of the killings too.

Logan turned to look at his beta, whose face mirrored the happiness that Logan was sure was on his face too. He closed the dusty journal and handed it to Casper, who collected it and held it close. Then they both walked out of the archive room with their heads held high.

Logan felt as though he was walking on bubbles that could not be deflated by any sad thought. All these months of killing, of confusion, of not being able to understand the motives behind those that were killing his people, had been solved–or partly solved.

Nothing could touch him now–nothing could touch them. No bout of fear, or hopelessness or sadness. Logan felt alive, more alive than he had been since the capture of the rogue wolf. 

A distant bell went off, signalling that lunch was ready. They both turned towards the direction of the dining room, big smiles still etched on their faces. Passersby wondered what was making their alpha and his beta smile so widely. Perhaps the two men had finally lost their marbles.

When they got to the dining room, they threw open the doors. "Good afternoon, all and sundry!" Casper yelled with his hands wide open and Logan replied. "It is a very beautiful day, is it not?"

Louve and Aella were seated at the table. Louve was about to put a fork of hash browns into her mouth when her mate and her cousin burst into the room. She slowly set the fork down, staring at them suspiciously. Then she turned to look at Aella, trying to confirm that they were both seeing this strange occurrence.

Aella too was equally shocked. In all her six months of being in the pack, she had never seen Logan smile so widely. He had graduated from being a wolf god to being a little boy with that one smile. His hair, which was in its characteristic ponytail was swinging back and forth as he shook his head at the two women.

"Tut tut!" He said. "You guys had better join us to celebrate this good news."

"What good news?" Louve asked and the two men looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Oh, I wish you knew!" Casper replied, then picked up the bowl of hash browns, shooing the maid that came forward to serve him.

Logan on the other hand picked up a chicken drumstick and tore into it like a wolf who had gone hungry for seven days. The two men continued to devour the food while their mates watched in amazement and exchanged perturbed looks.

"Seriously, why are you guys so happy?" Louve asked, smiling faintly at their ravenous eating. "Did something happen? Did you find out something about the killings?"

"That, my love, is for us to know and for you to find out." Casper said, his mouth full of hash browns. "Now leave us to eat out food in peace."

After the two men had successfully had their fill of the food, they reclined on their seats and gestured for the maids to pack their plates. Casper noticed that Aella had not said anything since they walked in and looked over at her. "Aella, are you okay?"

Aella was idly stirring food round and round her plate with her fork. She looked up suddenly when Casper spoke and delivered a forced smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She murmured and went back to stirring her food.

Casper looked at Logan to see if he had noticed this change in his mate's demeanor. He seemed to have noticed it but he was not saying anything. The alpha kept looking at anywhere but his mate's face.

But the beta put their issues out of his mind. Partners and mates had issues every single time. He was sure it was nothing to worry about.

Casper stood up from his chair and sighed, looking around at the people seated on the table. "That was a delectable lunch. The alpha and I would be working on...stuff. If you need us, you know where to find us." He said and walked out, followed by the Alpha.

Immediately they walked out of the dining room, Logan spoke up. "I think we should go and check on our prisoner. By now I think he should be willing to tell us what we need." Casper nodded in the affirmative and they walked out of the pack house and towards the kennels.

The kennels were situated at the very back of the pack house, close to the back door that led into the kitchens. It used to be a cage to house pack dogs but it had long since gone out of use. It had all been abandoned until recently when it was used to house the captured rogue wolf.

The kennels weren't too tall, about half the height of a normal man, more effective for dogs than human beings. The prisoner was at the very end of the long line of cages, hunched and shivering. Logan and Casper walked over to him.

The man looked up, his eyes bloodshot. His hands that were wrapped around the bars of the cage were shaking so profusely that the entire cage shook with it. His ginger coloured hair was by now matted with dirt and sweat, and his beard likewise. He grinned immediately he saw them and his teeth was equally filthy-black and grimy with dirt.

"You're back!" He declared. "I thought you would leave me here to die. Perhaps you care more about me than you let on our last meeting. How lucky I am!"

"Shut up!" Casper yelled and kicked the cage but the man only kept laughing to himself. Logan gestured for Casper to step back, then he replaced the beta's spot in front of the cage.

"Do you want your freedom back?" Logan asked and the man's laughter stopped abruptly.

"My–my freedom?" The rogue wolf gasped and looked up , his eyes darting this way and that. "You would really give me that if I talk?"

Logan stared hard and deep into the man's eyes. "Start talking first. Then we'll see."

"Bah!" The man exclaimed. "You will not hear one good peep from me."

Logan smiled, a mere raise of his lips that spelled danger. "I know all about your pack, you filthy wolf."He growled. "I know what you all are about, what you are up to, who your leader is. I know he sent you as spy here so he could get information about our pack. So, you had better start confirming our speculations now, or you would not find anything here easy, filthy wolf. Trust me."

The wolf grinned again, revealing rotten teeth. "I would rather die at your hands than betray my master and face his wrath. There's nothing you want to do for me that would be up to what he would do if I betrayed him."

Logan sighed and stood up, looking at Casper. "I guessed as much." He said.

"Well, he's a lost cause anyway. There's no information we can get from this one." Casper replied in a very loud voice for the man's benefit. "What do you say to killing him, Alpha?" Logan nodded in affirmation.

The wolf spat and muttered something in a language they did not understand. The he looked up at them with venom in his eyes. "You all don't know what's coming for you."